A State Built on Sand: How Opium Undermined Afghanistan

by David Mansfield

Overview

Oscillations in opium poppy production in Afghanistan have long been associated with how the state was perceived, such as after the Taliban imposed a cultivation ban in 2000-1. The international community's subsequent attempts to regulate opium poppy became intimately linked with its own state-building project, and rising levels of cultivation were cited as evidence of failure by those international donors who spearheaded development in poppy-growing provinces like Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar. Mansfield's book examines why drug control - particularly opium bans - have been imposed in Afghanistan; he documents the actors involved; and he scrutinizes how prohibition served divergent and competing interests. Drawing on almost two decades of fieldwork in rural areas, he explains how these bans affected farming communities, and how prohibition endured in some areas while in others opium production bans undermined livelihoods and destabilized the political order, fuelling violence and rural rebellion. Above all this book challenges how we have come to understand political power in rural Afghanistan. Far from being the passive recipients of violence by state and non-state actors, Mansfield highlights the role that rural communities have played in shaping the political terrain, including establishing the conditions under which they could persist with opium production.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190694715
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	22 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David Mansfield is an independent consultant widely regarded as the pre-eminent expert on rural livelihoods and opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Acknowledgements Preface 1. Establishing the Context Introduction Rationale Hypothesis and Questions Methodology Structure 2. Power, Corruption and Drug Crop Cultivation Introduction Behaving Like a State: Drug Control and Statebuilding Fulfilling International Drug Control Obligations in Countries with Limited or Contested Domestic Sovereignty Conclusion 3. Rural Livelihoods Perspectives on Drug Crop Production Introduction Assessing Changes in Patterns of Drug Crop Cultivation from Afar:The Limits of the Current Literature Reshaping our Understanding of Drug Crop Cultivation and Those Who Cultivate Drug Crops Using the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach to Improve Understanding of Drug Crop Cultivation and Efforts to Ban It Conclusion 4. Research Methodology Introduction Focusing the Research The Research Design Collecting Primary Data Adapting to the Security Environment: Methodological and Ethical Considerations Conclusion 5. A Historical Overview of Statebuilding and Drug Production in Afghanistan Introduction Statebuilding in Afghanistan Opium Production, Policy and Efforts at Control Conclusion 6. Repositioning a Pariah Regime-The Taliban Ban of 2000/13 Introduction Taking the Moral High Ground The Ball is in Your Court: Negotiating with the International Community Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't A Movement, Not a Monolith Conclusion 7. Nangarhar-A Model Province Introduction The Provincial Context Banning Opium in Nangarhar Conclusion 8. The Ban Unravels Introduction Politics at the Centre: The Return of the Nangarhari Elite Beyond the Politics of Personalities: An Analysis of the Changing Political and Economic Circumstances of Rural Constituents Conclusion 9. The Helmand Food Zone-A Technocratic Response to a Complex Phenomenon Introduction The Provincial Context Banning Opium in the Canal Command Area: The Establishment of the Helmand Food Zone Conclusion 10. Shifting Political Geography and Patterns of Poppy Cultivation Introduction The Changing Face of Central Helmand Livelihood Trajectories in Central Helmand Conclusion 11. Conclusion Introduction Projecting the Appearance of Power: the Problematic Relationship Between Prohibition and Statebuilding Understanding the Diffuse Nature of Political Power in Rural Space The Rural Population as Political Actors Distorting the Political Marketplace Bans as Temporary Coalitions of Interest Contribution to Policy Contribution to Theory Notes Bibliography Index